Destiny Village ~ X-Eye Cauldron

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Cauldron ain't the place fer a quiet drink, y'know."

"Guess not! But I've had my share of quiet lately. I kinda feel like runnin' into someone, t'be honest! Been awhile since we had a group yarn with folks. Maybe we'll see Vix an' Kane, or Cythnian an' Ivy?"

"Don't seem likely. But sure, yer call."

Brisa entered her regular drinking spot with her shade in tow, and the feeling she wasn't going to get her regular no-troubles experience. Such was the way when in Luz' company, even after everything.

"Oh hey. It's Nate and Rocky! How have we never got to know those two?"

Brisa knew very well why, but made no objection. She just waved Luz over and went to get drinks and snacks. Extra helpings, too, in case of loose fingers from the infernape-shade.

Luz sauntered over to the other Spectrum members and leant a paw on their table.

"Howdy! Got room fer a couple more?"

 

[Negrek]

Rocky's eyes brightened when Luz came over to their table. "See?"

"Wait," Nate said, but Rocky was already off and running.

"Sure! There's plenty of room," he said. "It's been a long time, Luz. What have you been doing? I know Brisa's been fighting a lot in the colosseum. Marshtomp's been to the colosseum a lot, so he's seen a lot of her battles. Right, Marshtomp?"

"Yeah," Nate said. He lifted a hand in weary greeting when Brisa came to sit down.

"But I haven't seen you around much, Luz! Ooh, except in the big battle just now. That was really cool, wasn't it? Everybody showed up to cheer us on!'

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz beamed happily, eating up Rocky's enthusiasm. "Yeah, that was somethin' real special. Y'think anyone got it on video? I wanna watch the highlights. D'you think I could put my participation on my resume? Jus' kiddin'."

Brisa snorted, and shoved her haul from bar where everyone could reach.

"When am I not in the Colo?" She joked, drily. "Say, Nate, you watch much Colo? Pretty sure you're a trainer, is that right?"

 

[Negrek]

"I wish!" Rocky said. "We should have brought Incineroar with us to do commentary! That would have made everything cooler." He was thoughtfully quiet for a moment. "Maybe he was there after Pop brought all of Cibus in, doing his announcer thing, and we just didn't see him."

"Oh, yeah, I go to the colosseum sometimes," Nate said, eyeing the food Brisa brought over with undisguised interest.

"Only all the time! Unless he's too lazy, then he just watches it on TV instead."

"Or that's what you'd think, from how much Rocky goes on about it," Nate said dryly. "I'm a trainer, yeah. Ain't so much for getting in the thick of things myself."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa raised her head in a small nod of acknowledgement. "You'll have seen some of my matches, then," she said, stating a fact. Her participation rates had been recordbreaking. "Not that there's much time left t'make use of it or anythin', but, d'you have any . . . advice, I guess? Colour me intrigued. Ain't too many humans around with a ton of useful shit to say about sportin' combat theory."

 

[Negrek]

"Hmmm." Nate leaned back in the booth, looking contemplative. "Well, it ain't the kind of fighting we do back home, that's for sure. You looking for Colosseum kind of shit, then? Not like how you'd handle a fight for your life, or back in your own world or whatever, without all the Blacklight shit?"

"You should learn to do an explosion!" Rocky was bouncing in his seat. "Lightning's pretty cool, and it makes stuff blow up sometimes, but explosions are really important. So you should get really good at making them, especially really big ones."

Nate sighed. "I mean, yeah, the crowd fucking loves it when shit blows up. Probably ain't the worst plan around here, if you want all those hope vibes or whatever the fuck."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa grinned drily. "I dunno if I could figure out the knack fer it. Y'need a certain kind of disregard fer consequences t'pull that off. Hence, the lovely Astrid as our specialist. I've only exploded from Radiance the one time, and I ain't keen t'repeat it."

Luz had her paw over her mouth to hide her giggling.

"Anyway," continued Brisa, "I can't be sure of rememberin' any advice when I'm back home, but over there I sure ain't as skilled as I've grown here. So, worth a shot, and I'm all ears. I'm interested, though – what is the fightin' like in yer world, if it ain't at all like here?"

 

[Negrek]

"Well, you wouldn't have to explode through Radiance," Rocky said, flopping forward across the table as though dejected that his idea hadn't immediately interested Brisa. He looked hopefully up at Luz. "I bet we could learn to do explodey things, though. We can use all kinds of attacks!"

"The kind of fighting I'm used to, with trainers and pokémon, ain't a lot like it is here," Nate said. "You got a team of pokémon, but usually only one or two of them actually on the battlefield at once. So it ain't so much about direct teamwork as it is positioning everybody right, making sure to line fighters up so they got the best advantage in who they're fighting, having one pokémon set up for the next so it can come in and go nuts. Momentum and all that shit." He sniffed. "The way you fight you usually do best when you can hit hard and take your opponent out before they realize what's up. Tough way to play if you ain't got a team around to back you up, or you end up outnumbered. Dunno that trying to play more to defense really makes sense for you, but get more comfortable with your disruption, maybe. Flash, Roar, Mud-Slap, all that shit. Control the battlefield, make yourself openings to strike before the other side can get dug in."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa nodded, comparing her single and double battles in the Colo with the reserves strategies they'd used in mass combat. Almost everyone in reserves, huh? It'd create a completely different strategy meta than she was used to. Techniques and tactics the team relied on as a matter of course would be less viable, while other techniques they rarely considered would be potentially very useful. Hexing or otherwise fettling a solo opponent would be ruinous to their tempo, but you'd be hard pressed to set up a defensive network with so few team members active at once...

"Mm!" she shook herself out of the tactical reverie Nate had put her in. "Couldn't help thinkin' of how the team would fight if they were all split up like that. Hard to imagine! I could get my head around it, though, if I had the occasion."

Meanwhile, Luz was animatedly describing to Rocky how Astrid's Blacklit form was similar to a void eterna's body, and she was trying to learn how to harness many different kinds of attacks in her spare time, and how she imagined an explosion attack would feel and appear. She was talking at a hell of a pace, and Brisa didn't care to follow it, but if they were having a good time then good for them. She was busy thinking about what combat sport was like in Nate's world. It was pretty much like Starr's, right? And Silver and Red's, for that matter.

"Say, Nate," she began, half a dozen inquiring thoughts springing to mind, some of which she sensed were unwise to voice, "Is yer world the kinda place where a person can make a livin' as a pro battler?" It was only a fragment of what she was actually thinking, but it felt safe to ask.

 

[Negrek]

Rocky was clearly enjoying his discussion with Luz. Not many things that got him more excited than explosions, or exploring the limits of his weird, gooey body. More power to him, Nate thought. The more friends he could make around here, the better.

"Pro battler?" Nate said. "Sure. Not very many people, but they're out there. Red, Silver, that lot from my world would qualify. And their pokémon, most of them." He tapped his empty glass against the table. He imagined that'd be something Brisa would enjoy. There were a few well-known luxray out there. "You got that kinda thing where you're from? I know not all Pokémon worlds are quite all... this." He waved a hand around, taking in Destiny Village in general.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa shook her head. "I might take it a li'l easier in the Colo if that were true anywhere I knew of back home. My ma's clan takes fightin' real serious, only kids fight fer fun and show. And townies, the local ones at least, consider unnecessary combat uncivilised. My dad's from a world like yers, but battlin' where he's from was brutal, an' he don't care fer it. So I've been workin' off a twenty-year yearnin' to kick loose, and makin' the most of my vocation while it lasts."

She scratched the back of her neck and palmed some dried fruit and nuts from the snack selection.

"But a world is a big place, and I've hardly seen any of mine. Maybe other settlements an' clans feel differently about it. I oughta travel, see fer myself."

 

[Negrek]

"Yeah. I dunno much about what wild pokémon get up to in my world, but I'm sure there's some places where they fight for sport, too. Just more dangerous without healing machines and shit." He took a look around the room, thinking. "I guess travel ain't as big a thing for pokémon around here, huh? And probably where you're from, too. Always been a huge deal where I'm from. You got anywhere in particular you'd want to go?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa rubbed her chin and hummed. "Everyone keeps talkin' 'bout the rail track they're layin' down from the east coast over our way, fer locomotive transport. Until that's finished, y'gotta charter the services of a flyin' 'mon if you can even get one who can carry you, or else trek on foot or by wagon. Ain't easy either way. I guess I could travel on foot, though. I'm, ah, plenty strong. As fer where I'd wanna travel..."

Where to go? She hardly knew much about the wider, wilder world. And why was that, anyway? Her duty to the town? To the clan? Why shouldn't she move away?

"Anywhere. The cities out east, the outpost settlements further west. The other clans downriver, in the long freeze, or out on the plains. The deep wild where nobody fuckin' goes. So long as it ain't home."

 

[Negrek]

A new rail line, huh? Somehow that seemed even stranger than all the high-tech nonsense in Destiny Village. No tech wildy kind of shit Nate could understand, and something that felt almost like home was weird, but not so weird, but thinking about, like, a pokémon industrial revolution or whatever the fuck was way out there.

Of course Brisa wasn't going to remember any of her convictions about traveling once she got home anyway. Nate imagined there was some reason she hadn't already been roaming around in the pokéwilds if she was talking about it like it was a goal now. Fucking depressing.

"Anywhere but home, huh?" Yeah, real fucking depressing. "Kinda weird to me that Diyem's, like, chucking everybody back where they came from like he can't do shit about it. You got people like Maple recruiting from around the universe, Giovanni and them world-hopping, that other Diyem just being able to summon people back whenever the fuck he likes... I dunno. Seems like there's ways around just dumping you back home with amnesia and leaving you to sort shit out."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa nodded, wincing a little as the resentment she'd been living with bubbled up inside her, sour and acidic.

"Yeah. But I'm told that some stuff can stick with us, dependin' on the rules of our worlds. Aria straight up didn't forget a thing when her Diyem sent her back, apparently. I swear, if there's the slightest chance that even a shred of what I've come to believe here will stay with me, it'll fuckin' stay with me."

She chuckled grimly. "Somethin' tells me it might not take as much of a nudge as I used to think, t'get me to make changes back home. I been dreamin' of home, lately. The particulars vary, but there's one detail that's consistent. In my dreams, I see myself settin' fire to the town gallows."

She smirked bitterly. "Good riddance."

 

[Negrek]

Damn. Well. There was clearly a lot going on there. Why in fuck would Pokéworld even go out of its way to invent a gallows? He tried to imagine some dismayed townsmon trying to deal with a geodude or something, then hastily banished the thought.

"Why keep it in your dreams? Go ahead and burn that shit down," he said. "Hope you do keep your memories, then. At least enough of them to be getting on with."

There was an awkward silence. Nate cast about for something else to talk about. He hadn't meant for this to get heavy, Jesus. "So... You got any big fights still coming up? You've really been packing them in. Going til the very last second, huh?" Well, that was fucking weak, but at least it was pretty safe.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa nodded with dark resolve at Nate's encouragement. Yeah. She'd blast the damn thing to smithereens and be done with it.

Ah, Colo. Sure.

"Yeah, gotta make the most of it. I wanna challenge those folks as I'm most curious 'bout fightin', at least. Didja see we just managed to get a narrow win off 'gainst the chief? Honestly fuckin' blown away at how tough that was. I think the biggest fight still to go is the match versus Sprout. That's, uh, the incineroar fella who announces the fights. Pretty sure he's an aspirant zygarde, so I'm expectin' to get put through two-score kinds of punishment. But when has that ever stopped me?"

She chuckled. Her ribs were still sore from Diyem's hammer blows. Oof.

---

Nate

"Of course I saw it! Ain't gonna miss a fight like that." Nate smiled faintly, remembering. "After that time he went against Maple? Like, fuck, you don't get to see attacks like that every day. Outside all the times we went up against whatever Blacklight nonsense, I guess. But harder to appreciate it when you're all trying not to die yourself." Nate didn't know about the rest of that, though. Taking on the announcer was an interesting choice. The guy obviously had a lot of experience weathering attacks and restraining out-of-control battlers--he at least couldn't be a slouch in a straight fight. An aspirant, though? "You sure about the zygarde thing? They seem like they're fucking robots or something, and I think that incineroar might be the loudest guy on the entire fucking planet."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa laughed. It was pretty fucking true.

"Fair enough! But no, I'm sure. Spotted him usin' a zygarde-pattern shield this one time, an' he definitely ain't mortal with how fuckin' fast he is. Volume ain't such a strong indicator if'n you ask me. Zygarde bodies don't reflect their emotions, an' the Overseer fella who swung by is one hell of a joyless bureaucrat, but their whole shtick is watchin' conflicts and intervenin' when needed. That's Sprout's whole thing too, when y'get down to it. We'll see some ground-type fuckery in the field fer sure. Swing by an' give us a cheer, willya? I've racked up enough cred with the Colo staff that I can get anyone front row seats at this point."

 

[Negrek]

"Yeah? Not the kind of conflict you'd need to get experience dealing with if you were gonna be a fucking Overseer. Most battles at the colosseum seem pretty friendly." Nate tapped his empty glass against the table again, distractedly. "But sure. I'll be there."

Rocky glanced over from his conversation with Luz, a bit wary. What was going on over there?

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa had seen her share of Colo matches turn dark, what with berserking combatants and people getting in above their strength class without realising it. But maybe listing those examples wasn't the right play with Nate.

"Well, I reckon those bureaucrats do a lotta lookin' into mundane shit as got outta hand, an' bein' able to break up fights seems like part of the zygarde skillset. But hey, glad t'hear you'll show."

She turned to Rocky. "Hey, pal, I'm guessin' you'd care fer front row seats to my last exhibition match at the Colo? Sprout was pretty pushy about it, so I figure it's a chance fer him t'prove himself afore ascension. Wonder if he's gotta get past us t'become an Overseer or somethin'."

Luz chuckled to herself. "Five-hundred says Brisa books another big match the second this one's done."